Chris Thompson can’t deny being awestruck when he suddenly found himself a teammate of a player he worshiped in his youth after Adrian Peterson joined the Washington Redskins.

Now that they’re part of the same offensive backfield, Peterson and Thompson are using their respective skills to complement each other in an effort to help the Redskins succeed.

‘I never thought I would see the day that I would be playing with somebody like Adrian Peterson’

“It’s awesome,” Thompson told Alex Marvez and Gil Brandt on Late Hits. “He’s a great guy and to just be in the backfield, be in the room with a future Hall of Famer, I think that’s what guys like me dream of. I never thought I would see the day that I would be playing with somebody like Adrian Peterson that I’ve always watched growing up and somebody I enjoyed just seeing play through college and the NFL.

“I mean, he’s a funny guy, too, so he keeps it pretty interesting in the room. He keeps us positive all the time.”

‘We were all, as a team, able to enjoy a part of history with him getting in the top 10 in rushing and scoring his 100th touchdown’

Thompson saw the positive impact Peterson is able to have in the Redskins’ 24-6 season-opening victory against the Arizona Cardinals. Peterson was the game’s leading rusher with 96 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries, followed by Thompson with 65 yards on five runs. Thompson also had six receptions for 63 yards and a score.

“We had me and AP swapping in and out and we were able to both just kind of go into every run play, every pass play just fresh and I think it really helped our offense out as well,” Thompson said. “And then we were all, as a team, able to enjoy a part of history with him getting in the top 10 in rushing and scoring his 100th touchdown. It’s things like that that you really enjoy and just to see him happy after the game, to be able to accomplish something like that, it was huge.”

‘We’ve added some things with Alex (Smith) being here and him being able to be a guy that can use his legs’

Equally huge is the impact another new addition, quarterback Alex Smith, is having on the offense in general and the running game in particular.

“I think, for our offense, we’ve added some things with Alex being here and him being able to be a guy that can use his legs,” Thompson said. “Looking at some things he did successfully over in Kansas City, and I think one of the biggest things we had success on was the RPO game. Most of my runs actually came from that and we were able to get a big play with Jordan Reed early on in the game with that set of plays, and I think it’s something that’s really going to help our offense out.”